LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Police say the search has concluded for a man accused of stealing an LMPD cruiser early Thursday. Police couldn't find the suspect after he ditched the car but Thursday evening, police told WDRB they had made an arrest.

Officers searched from the ground and the air after the suspect stopped on Oleanda Ave. near Taylor Blvd. and took off on foot.

"Usually this doesn't happen," said LMPD spokesman Dwight Mitchell. "Unfortunately, it did this case but the good thing about it is we did recover the vehicle, it was not damaged and no one was hurt and that's our main concern and priority there."

Mitchell says the incident started about a mile away on W. Kenton St. near 5th St. An officer noticed a car and a person that seemed suspicious. It was around 3:30 in the morning.

"The officer backed up on that individual, got out, was talking to him. That person became very evasive," Mitchell said.

Mitchell says the fourth division officer ran plates on the suspicious car and it came back to someone with several warrants. At some point the man took off on foot and the officer followed.

"That individual circled around, was able to gain access to the marked police vehicle and drove off in that," Mitchell told WDRB News.

Police say the squad car must have been left running. Officers chased the man in the car but he got away after ditching it on Oleanda Avenue.

Still, they have some information from running the plates.

"We still have to verify exactly if that's the same person but we feel strongly due to this individual's actions that they're probably is the person," Mitchell said.

Police are calling the man unpredictable and dangerous.

Mitchell says the department always hopes to make an arrest soon and "the only variable in this is time."